...the history of how the horse bit came to be...

1. "Horse Encyclopedia (history of the bit)"

3. There exists a universal illusion that a horse in sport, in a cart, in the cavalry, is controlled by man. But this is not so. The horse is controlled by pain. The horse is stopped by pain, is turned by pain and, generally speaking, guided by pain.

5. As a matter of fact, the whole history of horse-riding is the history of pain of the horse. It's just that but it's not customary to speak about it. And it all began in a very simple and very scary way. It began with a small ring...

7. Many thousands of years ago in his desire to rule over the horse a man used a ring, with which he pierced its nostrils. Thus it breaks the horse's nasal septum. Than two ropes were tied to the ring, and through the use of them it was possible to control a horse.

9. This method was cruel but absolutely ineffective because the nasal septum around the ring quickly occluded and the pain lost its strength. And then the man started to look for a more vulnerable and sensitive place in the horse's body in order to control it. And he found this place...

11. That place turned out to be the mouth. And that was when the horse bit was invented, the term that is universal for all languages, horse bit...

13. A horse bit is found on a piece of horse tack long used by riders to control a horse. Made of leather straps, the bridle holds the metal bit in the horse's mouth. The rider uses the connected reins to steer the horse by tugging on the left or right corner of the horse's mouth. And this is how man came to complete his desire...to control the horse.

14. Credits Images: http://www.lib-art.com/paints/horses.html http://informed/livestock/horses/ http://www.ritatate.com/arabians.html http://www.tressagreen.com/peruvian.html http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pets/horse.htm http://douglaslrichardson.com/tag/tribes/ http://www.naturescapes.net/112005/dl1105.htm http://blog.seattlepi.com/photo/archives/107946.asp http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horses.london.750pix.jpg http://www.horse--games.com/ Information Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyX5LzcXUtc http://www.ehow.com/facts_4885958_what-horse-bridle.html Music: Yanni "Prelude & Nostalgia" Produced By: Angelina Tia Woodstock http://www.travelwithachallenge.com/Slovenia-Lipizzaner-Horse-Vacation.htm